Invaluable learning and research opportunities in rugby-mad country
Despite not having even a vague understanding of the rules, rugby world cup fever gripped Dr Matteo Solinas on a 2003 trip to New Zealand and played a part in his recent return, on the eve of another world cup, to take up a senior lectureship at the Faculty of Law.
“Many things have changed since 2003, including my job. After a number of years in private practice in Milan as a commercial lawyer, in 2006 I emigrated to the United Kingdom to start an academic career.”
That career saw Matteo complete a doctorate at the London School of Economics where he developed research interests in corporate and securities law. Most recently he was a senior lecturer in corporate and financial law at the University of Glasgow’s School of Law.
“Then, at the end of last year, a position in commercial law was advertised at Victoria University which I knew was a prestigious university with a solid international reputation. It did not take very long to decide to apply and, later on, to convince my family that it was a good chance to leave Europe for a while and to try an antipodean adventure.”
Currently teaching LAWS 392 Comparative Corporate Governance, in 2016 Matteo will teach LAWS 121 Introduction to the New Zealand Legal System, LAWS 524 Principles of International Financial Law and LAWS 350 Commercial Law.
Matteo says the chance to undertake legal research outside Europe in a very different economic and cultural environment offers invaluable learning opportunities and new research challenges.
“This is particularly relevant if one considers how New Zealand corporate/commercial law is evolving outside the conventional English legal tradition (eg floating charges) and its framework, now largely shaped by EU regulations. Not to mention the various issues arising from the recent reforms in the area of financial regulation.”
“The hope is that the interaction between different legal and economic traditions will allow me to develop original ideas and perspectives both to critically examine the current New Zealand legal framework and to tackle controversial themes in international commercial law.”
The past month in Wellington has confirmed Matteo’s high expectations of the city and has even offered him a little taste of his home in Italy.
“Despite moving to New Zealand in winter, right in the middle of the second academic trimester, we have quickly settled and started a new family routine. And to my greatest surprise, I found an Italian community here in Wellington and ended up living in Island Bay where, apparently, a group of Italian fishermen from Stromboli established at the end of the nineteenth century.”